I have been performing wedding blessings and marriage ceremonies for
over 30 years. For the last 20 years, or so, the ceremonies I perform are independent
of any particular church or institution. Please check our page about Celtic Nature Wedding on The
Aran Islands

Who I am:

I am a Celtic priest
and monk

I am in my 60's

I am married with four
children. I belong to the Celtic
spiritual tradition but not to any formal church, sect or cult

I am freelance and
self-employed

What I offer:

An indoor or
outdoor ceremony

Anywhere - my
home is in the West of Ireland but I will travel anywhere in Ireland (and occasionally abroad).

On any day of the week, including Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.

A personalised
ceremony - I will take you where you are at and create a ceremony to
suit you

I will perform
ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples as well as for
heterosexual couples

Your ceremony
can be as orthodox (e.g. Christian) or as unusual as you like

I can register the marriage with the Irish State*

I will meet you
beforehand if you wish

I will conduct
most of the planning with you by e-mail and phone/skype

I will arrive one hour before the ceremony.

What I cannot offer:

A ceremony in a
church owned by a Christian denomination (except with special
permission)

* Since April 2015, I have been designated a Secular Solemniser for the Irish State. This means that I can perform a ceremony of marriage that is legal in Ireland. My official name as a Solemniser is Dara Ó Maoildhia.

To avail of this service on your wedding day, you must give 3 months notice to the Registrar's office and visit the office in person to provide all the documentation. The registrar then issues you with a Marriage Registration Form (MRF) which you bring with you to the ceremony. After the marriage and the signing of this form, you return the form to the registrar. I will be named on the MRF as the Solemniser of the marriage.

How I can help in other ways:

You can have a ceremony in
a church if you wish. There are churches in Ireland that are
privately owned. Most of them that I know are owned by hotels, so you
can have the ceremony and the rest of the celebrations at the one
location.

I work with a
number of wedding coordinators. If you want one, I
can get you one.

Do you want a
wedding in a castle? This is becoming more popular,
especially with American and Canadian couples. I can help you find a
suitable castle, even one with a chapel.

Do you want the
wedding ceremony to take place at aplace
of natural beauty? I have performed ceremonies at the Cliffs of Moher, a lake edge
in Donegal, on a boat on the river Corrib (Galway),
on an uninhabited island off Dingle (Co. Kerry), at the cliff edge at
Dun Aengus (Aran Island). If you need
me to, I will help you to pick your spot.

Do you want the
wedding ceremony to take place at a spiritual site?
I have performed ceremonies at the foot of Croagh Patrick (Westport,
Co. Mayo), at an ancient Celtic monastic site on Inis Mór
(Aran Islands, where I live), in the ruins of a monastery on an island
off Dingle (Co. Kerry), at Gougane Barra (Co. Cork) where St. Finbar
first lived as a hermit monk, at a dolmen (burial mound) which is 4,500
years old on Inis Mór (Aran Islands). If you need me to, I
will help you pick your spot.

Cost:

Creating meaningful Celtic spiritual ceremonies,
and leading those ceremonies, is part of my life's work. It is what I
believe I am here for. Earning an income from this work is secondary.

The standard fee for a wedding ceremony is €350. The fee is higher on Fridays and Saturdays.

A wedding on Inis Mor, Aran, will be the
cheapest for you. Weddings off the island will cost more depending on the
amount of travel and accommodation needed. When I know your details, I will give you a quotation.

What You Get For Your Money:

I will discuss the ceremony with you over
the phone and by e-mail or skype as often as you like.

I will meet the two of you beforehand if
you wish, you can visit my home, or I will travel to Galway to meet
you.

I will send you a bundle of material from
which to choose readings, blessings, prayers, and vow formats for your
wedding.

If your wedding is to be on the Aran
Islands, I will help you arrange all the other aspects of the
celebration: accommodation, meals, transport, music, photographer,
flowers.

A rehearsal with me present is generally not necessary. However, if required, it may be possible for me to arrive for a rehearsal the evening before.

Normally, I will arrive an hour or so
before the wedding in order to meet casually with you both (separately) while you
prepare, and to make final preparations for the ceremony.

After the ceremony, my normal practice is to depart after spending some time mixing and meeting your guests. If you wish that I stay for the meal in order to add to the formality of the occasion and/or to say 'grace', it may be possible for me to do so.

The ceremony itself will be the very best
that I can do for you. I will go the extra mile.

What People Think

Just watched the video from our
wedding in June that you officiated. In watching it again it reaffirmed
how blessed we were to have you there. Everyone that came to our
wedding had so many beautiful things to say about you. You really
touched people in such a wonderfully positive way. When I started to
plan this wedding, I knew in my heart it was something that would be
special, but not until we met with you did it all make sense to me. I
saw in you why I chose Ireland. So thank you for everything.

We finally arrived home and want
to thank you for your hospitality on the island as well as the
wonderful ceremony you performed for us. It was very meaningful for us.

Thankyou for helping to make our
day so special we're still on a high from it... Everyone thoroughly
enjoyed themselves and all commented on your moving ceremony--even the
boys were crying !

thanks so much for an absolutely
beautiful service.

Just wanted to say thanks
(again) for the wonderful words, and the way that you handled our
ceremony. You gently took us out of that slightly chaotic day, and
allowed us to focus on each other and our commitment. It was really
nice to have you for dinner as well. Everyone has many good things to
say about you and learned a bit from you too!

Thank you again for a superb job
on our wedding... Everything was first rate!

We wanted to thank you for the
wonderful ceremony you preformed for our wedding. As non-traditional
people we did not think we would be able to find someone to perform the
type of ceremony that would be meaningful for us. We assumed we would
have to settle for the type of ceremony that would be irrelevant to our
tastes and beliefs. The ceremony you performed was very meaningful for
us. I don't think a more apt and appropriate and perfect ceremony could
have been done. We wanted to tell you how much we appreciated the
ceremony and meeting you in person as well. You helped make it a truly
unique and special day.

Thank you so much for such a
special day. You are such a beautiful, spiritual person. Everything you
set up was just magical. I never in a million years imagined a wedding
so amazing. Thank you.

I just want to thank you for
doing just a fantastic job, both of us were so impressed and proud with
the ceremony. So many people have come to us since the wedding and
asked about you, everyone was blown away by you and the fact that the
ceremony was so different. You made our day so special, we will
remember it for the rest of our lives. Once again thank you.

Again, I can't tell you how
beautiful the ceremony and the handfasting ceremony were. It was
something I will cherish forever.